When AMC’s critically acclaimed drug drama finishes its five-season run next year, that will spell the end for the ABQ crew. Or maybe not? Series creator/executive producer Vince Gilligan says he has interest in a spin-off featuring one of the show’s popular characters: Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), that crafty, oily, wise-cracking lawyer who counsels meth lord Walter White (Bryan Cranston). “I would love to see a Saul Goodman spin-off show when it’s all said and done,” Gilligan tells EW. “I think that would present itself pretty nicely, storywise. While Breaking Bad is by design a show that is finite and limited in its scope — it’s a story of transformation that cannot go on forever — I think a Saul Goodman show could have great legs. I love the idea of a lawyer who will do anything to avoid going to court. He’s always going to settle on the courthouse steps.” Gilligan cautions that the Saul spin-off is just in the idea stage at this point. And he issues an all-important caveat, given that the writers are currently constructing the second half of the last season: “No viewer should breathe a sigh of relief that Saul won’t expire by the end of Breaking Bad,” he says. “Everything is on the table… Who knows where Breaking Bad will take us?” (Asked about the possibility of a Saul-centric series, Odenkirk seconds: “Saul has got to survive this show first.” He adds with a quip: “And if he doesn’t, then maybe it can be done as a prequel.”)

What about the likelihood of a Breaking Bad movie? (Cranston recently said that he “wouldn’t mind visiting that possibility,” assuming Walt himself is still breathing after the final season.) “First of all, I have to say, God bless him for his enthusiasm,” says Gilligan. “But I don’t know how to do that at this point. I learned a long time ago to never say never, but I am working really hard to wrap up this story in these final 16 episodes.”

The first eight episodes of the show’s final season begin airing July 15.